The Meeting
by Shooby
Summary: The story of Gourry and Lina's first meeting, told through Gourry's point of view. This was written for lightdragon1987.


This story was written for lightdragon1987 on my livejournal community slayersrequest. She requested a story of Lina and Gourry's first meeting, told through Gourry's point of view. And, you know, I figured no one really gives Gourry quite enough credit. Hope you enjoy.

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He'd never seen anyone like her. He'd been wandering, as wandering mercenaries tend to do, when he happened to stumble upon her and her delicate situation. A young girl, surrounded by bandits... ten of them. Only ten. They were obviously underestimating the girl. She was small and dainty and seemed to scream both innocence and power at the same time. Oh, yeah. He could tell she held power. But just how much? And in what form? Better to make friends before he found out the hard way.

"Piece of advice, fellas: If you all take off at a dead sprint now, a few of you might actually make it back to the rock you've crawled from under before I catch up and exterminate you like the vermin you are. One or two of you might even escape with your lives. That is, if you start _right now_." I'd only had the opportunity to use that line once before. It was a fun one.

She looked confused for a moment as the bandits around her turned their attention to me. I watched as her face turned thoughtful, and I could almost see the light bulb switching on in her head. Then, she began to shriek.

"Just who the hell are ya to be creeping out from the woods and interrupting our delicate negotiations with yer ugly threats and insults, huh?" the apparent leader growled at me angry, I suppose, at being interrupted with his predictable banter.

I guess I'd go with my usual line, "If I gave you my name, you'd only get it dirty," and flashed my patented "hero" smile. I heard the girl groan. My smile broadened.

"Oh, help me!" she continued her charade of helplessness, clutching her hands in front of her and closing her eyes in supposed terror.

She continued to yell and jump around as I quickly dispatched the bandits, sending them running away with their pants down. Literally. Heh. I caught what little breath I had lost while I walked over to her. I'm not a creep or anything, but I have to admit that I was looking forward to my... reward. I smiled broadly when I approached her, but there seemed to be something wrong...

"Great," I heaved heavy sigh when I realized my mistake, "She's just a kid." I'd known she was small, but... a kid?

She heaved quite a sigh of annoyance at that comment. OK, a little older than I had at first suspected. Still, probably wise to play the dummy than the repentant fool. "This is what I get for not looking more carefully before I get into these things. I mean, I like kids," she was getting really annoyed and I couldn't help but smile inwardly, "I want to be a standup guy, but c'mon! Ten guys, I fought! Ten guys! Is it too much to ask that one of these days there's a babe waiting for me at the other end?" She sucked in a breath at that, and I though about stopping but... "Somebody hot, you know? All breathless and grateful... is that too much to hope for? Apparently so," and I decided to dig just a little deeper, "And now I'm stuck looking after Little Miss No-Boobs."

I think her ears blew steam. Apparently I had forgotten about my initial plans to make friends. I was ready to run and take cover before I really found out how powerful this chick was, when I heard her choke out, "Th-thank you!"

She didn't really sound genuine, but I guess that's only because I knew she was full of cottage cheese. "No need to thank me, Little Lady," I smiled at her, "Are you lost? Are you traveling with your mommy and daddy?"

"Actually," she was gritting her teeth, restraining herself from beating me to a bloody pulp. I appreciated the effort. "I'm on my own."

"Oh, well, do you live around here?" I asked. If she did, I was screwed. If she was a traveler, then I could follow her for a bit until she showed off some of her stuff.

"Um, no, I'm traveling by myself. I was actually headed to Atlas City," she responded, pointing in the direction the city lay.

"Oh, I see," I nodded emphatically, "Then I'll just have to escort you there safely."

Her eyes widened. Was I really that bad?

"I appreciate your kindness, but you don't have to..."

"No, I insist." I really, really did. That whole mess wouldn't have been worth it if I didn't get to find out what kind of strength that petite form held. She had some kind of enigmatic energy that just drew me to her, and I couldn't just leave something like that behind.

She kept trying to deter me from traveling with her, but I countered all of her solid arguments with nonsense. A few minutes later she was sick of arguing with me and begrudgingly agreed.

"By the way, I don't believe we've introduced ourselves," I said as we started down the path, "I'm Gourry, a traveling swordsman, as you could probably tell." Now that I really look at her, I guess she is kind of cute. Well, whoever she is, I have a feeling she'll lead me to adventure.

She had her thoughtful face on again, which meant she was probably thinking about lying to me. "I'm Lina," she finally said, and from what I could tell she was telling the truth, "Lina Inverse. I'm a traveler."

Holy shit. Lina Inverse. _The _Lina Inverse? The bandit-killer (now the whole situation made sense), the dragon-spooker? This chick? What the hell was I getting myself into?

I followed her anyway.

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Author's Notes: This is a combination of both the novels and the anime. Some lines are taken straight from Novel 1, so don't sue me for using them. I also took quite a few liberties with the lines, so I already know that a good deal of them aren't exact. Aaaaaaaand this is completely and totally unedited, because I barely have enough time to write, let alone attempt to proof read anything. Sorry to spelling and grammar freaks. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Any and all feedback is welcome. 


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